Obafemi Martins: ‘I’m having fun. … It’s good to start the preseason with my teammates.’

Here is the transcript of an interview we had Friday with Sounders FC forward Obafemi Martins:

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(It’s been a couple weeks now. How do you feel the team is coming together?) “I think we’ve been doing well with preseason and winning games, which is very important. We hope to continue like this because we’re waiting for the league to start.”

(Looks like you were having fun out there…) “Yeah, definitely I’m having fun, because like I said, it’s good to start the preseason with my teammates. So I’m having fun with that.”

(What do you think about playing with Kenny Cooper?) “He’s strong. We have big potential. He reminds me of Christian Vieri when we used to play together. He’s a good player and he’s a good guy, too.”

(It seems like you have a lot of different scoring options. How important is that?) “I think it’s important not to rely on one person because we play as a team. Now we have a lot of good players, like Marco Pappa, who can play. The young players, as well — they’re good. Like I’ve said, the preseason is good. We’ve been able to play together and pass the ball together and play well as a team. We hope to take it to the games.”

(Why is this preseason time so important?) “I think preseason is very important, because you’re training with the team, not just you. You’re learning a lot of things with your teammates, getting to know your teammates better. Like going to Arizona to train, staying there for like 12 days, getting used to each other, as well, not just playing, but as a family, as a team. So preseason is very good.”

(It seemed like you were trying to score goals in a lot of creative ways today in training…) “I think it’s good to learn no matter how many goals you’ve scored in your career, training is very important. Like what we did today is very important. It’s good so you can learn more ways to score. That’s what we did today, so everybody was happy.”

(How do you think the team feels with three weeks until the season starts?) “I think we’re ready. We’re feeling great. That’s what we’re waiting for anyways, so we hope it goes well.”

(Do you miss Arizona when training in the weather like today?) “I don’t really care about that. I just want to train and be with my team.”